Antifreezing means for sprinkler-pipes.



'mman ,spaans naar N. Y., .assIcfNoR 'ro GENERAL FINE Ex'rrNenIsHna ISLAND, a coarom'rIoN or'NEwyoaaL f 'incurs w. Hassett, oF Nnvv- YORK,

COMPANY, on PROVIDENCE, RHODE MTIFBEEZING MEANS FOR SPRINKLERfP-IPES.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Louis W. HASKELL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ntifreezing Means for Sprinkler-Pipes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention concerns certain new and useful improvement in means for preventing the water or other Huid from freezing in stationary sprinkling pipes, such as are commonly distributed throughout a building for lire protection, said pipes being provided With a series of sprinkler heads or nozzles which lfuse at a certain point and open valves to let out the water supply for the purpose of extinguishing 'a coniagration. One of the great disadvantages in the use of a stationary tire engine of this kind (which has so many advantages and excellent results) is the freezing of the water when the temperature drops suiiiciently low, whereby the pipes burst and the apparatus is damaged or ruined.

The object of my invention is to overcome this ditiiculty, and it consists essentially in suitable means for pumping or forcing warm or hot water, steam, or some other heating fluid into the pipes in such quantities as will maintain the temperature of the water in the pipes liable to freeze at a temperature above the freezing point and below the temperature at which the sprinkler head will open up by melting off the alloy fastening,l it being understood that the injection of the proper quantity of hot or warm water, steam, or other heating fluid, will heat'the water sufficiently to prevent freezing, but not so much as to melt the fusible part of the sprinkler nozzle; andthe invention may also be said to consist in certain details and peculiarities of construction, arrangement and combination, substantially as will be hereinafter more fully described and then particularly pointed out inA the claims.

In the annexed drawings Figure 1 is a ytop plan view of one form of a system of sprinkler piping provided with the usual nozzles and supposed to be arranged in con- `ilupction with the ceiling` of an apartment or room for the purpose of providing fire protectin.y Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. iti-af it is as amassed ssatiatlal View Pf a Specicatilo'n of Letters Patent.

patenten aisne, aars.,

Applicationled August 21,1906. Serial No. 331,448.

invention may be practically applied, and

with no thought of being confined to the particular arrangement shown, inasmuch as the anti-freezing means is adaptable for use with any combination of pipes or tubes, whether they be few or numerous, placed in any desired manner in a building, and it is obvious that the pipes and other connections and mode of arrangement, as well as the means for forcing the steam, hot water, or

other heating Huid, may vary within very wide limits.

ln the example of piping indicated in Fig. 1, l have shown a central water supply pipe 2, from both sides of which lead 0H the parallel pipes 1 which may be of the customary tapering variety, all these pipes 1 being provided at suitable intervals with sprinkler heads o'r nozzles 3 through which the water is released when the temperature, r

incident to a blaze rises to a point where the fusible parts of these heads are melted. These various pipes are customarily supported in a horizontal position near the ceiling, in order that the water may be distributed freely over the room and its con` tents. Pipe 2 is called a header and is of large size so as to carry the water from the riser (not shown) to the branches 1. rll`hese branches are smaller than the header, and,

as stated, they generally reduce in diameter from the point where they leave the header toward their outer ends. These are the pipes which hold the water and which when the temperature drops suiciently low are liableV to freeze and burst. The sprinkler heads 3 may vary widely in their construction and may be described as valves kept shut by a melting strip of alloy which melts at a fixed temperature, say about 160 F. ln cold weather the water in the smaller pipes 1 freezes and bursts the pipes. en the weather `becomes warmer they ice melts and the water runs out of the pipes., During all naties. its Snriilklaerlastsa will' la af e@ value for extinguishing fires, thus an insurance company Vwhich has insured a building at a low rate'on account of its beingprotected bysprinklers is really for a'time aty any rate carrying in effect a risk unprotected by any sprinkler system.

In order to prevent the Water from freezing in the pipes l, my invention consists in introducing into the terminals of all of these pipes 1 a quantity, preferably a small quantity, of hot or Warm Water, steam, or other heating fluid or agent, in order that the aqueous contents of the pipes 1 may be heated sufficiently to prevent them from freezing; but, obviously, as I have already said, the steam or hot Water, or other heating fluid or agent so introduced must not be sufiiciently hot to cause any melting of the sprinkler heads, for that would defeat the beneficial purpose of the invention. The vsupply of steam, hot Water, Warm Water, or other heating fluid or agent to be used for this purpose, may 'come from any suitable source, as, for instance, a boiler 15.V From this boiler runs a pipe 14, Nearthe ends of the sprinkler pipes 1 I arrange hot Water supply pipes et, the same being connected together by a pipe 13, While the boiler pipe 14 enters one end of one of the pipes 4l; One end of each of the sprinkler pipes 1 is con-. nected With one of the hot Water pipes 4c by means of a suitable -union or coupling, an example of which 4is shown in Fig. 3 and also at 7 in Fig. 2.

The hollow cylindrical body of the union consists preferably of two pipe sections 22 and 23. A diaphragm v2 0 having a hole 21 at the center and consisting of a metallic circular disk is lclamped between the pipe sections 22 and 28, This is a common form of union and is oered here simply to assist in the explanation and as furnishing one form of device for enabling 4the. hot Water to be introduced from the hot water pipes into the sprinkler pipes. The central opening or orifice 2l in the diaphragm 2O is sufficiently minute to allow the steam or hot water to pass through comparatively slowly.

en pumping or forcing -means are employed to drive the hot Water through the perforated diaphragm 20 it-Will mingle With the cold Water in the pipes 1, heating it to the proper degree to prevent freezing. vObviously the size of the opening 21 in the diaphragm must bear a definite ratio to the bore of the hot Water supply pipe, in order that the proper quantity of hot water may be supplied to each of the sprinkler pipes 1. Inother Words, the size of the orifice 21 must be regulated in correspondence with the supply of hot Water or steam,

so lthat there may be ample hot Water or steam to supply all the sprinkler pipes with an equal quantity of hot Water or steam, and

so that no sprinkler pipe will get an excessive quantity of hot water or steam. The l feeding these openings.

In forcing the hot Water into the sprinkler pipes, it is to be remembered first that the lsupply of hot Water must be sufiicient to Warm the water in the pipes liable to freeze; second, `the water mustv not be too hot or it will melt the strip of alloy which holds the small sprinklervalve (commonly calledl the sprinkler head) closed, which head is only to be'discharged by a re in the building; third, the Water must be puty into all Vthe sprinkler pipes at approximately the same temperature and in about the same quantity.. Hence, it will be understood that the temperature, quantity and distribution of the water forced into the pipes must be regulated. The hot waterpipe 4 which is connected to the small end of each branch pipe 1 is generally larger in diameter than the small ends of the branch sprinkler pipes, and for this reason it must be manifest that unless the water supply is regulated the first two branch sprinkler pipes will be likely to take-al1 the Water supplied through the hot Water pipe. Furthermore, it will be found necessary to provide means for taking care at some vsuitable point of a certain amount of water which is in the sprinkler pipes, in order that it may be possible to introduce Ithe extra hot water or steam, but in practice this .Will be an easy thing to accomplish for it will only be necessary to place an outlet valve in some part of the system to do this Work.

In practising the invention, the janitor .or attendant when he finds that the temperature of the atmosphere is dropping to near the freezing point, or below it, and that there is danger of the water freezing in the pipes, will pump or otherwise force or introduce the required amount of hot water into the ends of the branch sprinkler pipes, or will introduce a certain amount of steam or other heating Huid or agent, thus preventingffreezing and enabling the desirable results proposed by this invention to be easily and speedily accomplished. It is only 1 throughfthe constricted delivery and enters rasa-.esc

the branch sprinkler pipes, mingles with cooler water which, however, gradually warms up from the increasing supply of warm water, while the hot lwater is also cooled down by the surrounding atmosphere. There are two ways of regulating the temperature in the branch sprinkler pipe. First, bythe temperature of the waterin the hot water supply pipe, and second, by the size of the orifice between the hot water supply pipe and the branch sprinkler pipe. The size of' the orifice between the hot water supply'pipe and the branch sprinkler pipe is therefore not entirely regulated by the distribution feature, but also by the amount of hot water to be introduced into each branch sprinkler pipe; but when it is remembered that the range of temperature in the branch sprinker pipe may be any way between 400 F. and 140 F. with equally good results, it will be seen that this is not a diiiicult problem, and can be easily regulated to meet conditions. The degree .of pressure in the hot water supply pipe also is a factor in regulating the proper amount of distribution.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. ln an automatic iire extinguishing apparatus, the combination of a system of sprinkler pipes provided with automatic sprinkler heads and each in open communication at one end with a water supply main, whereby the pipes are normally kept filled with water under the service pressure, a supplementary supply pipe and connections between the saine and the opposite ends of the several sprinkler pipes, and means for forcing a heated fiuid into the supplementary supply pipe and thence into the sprinkler pipes against the service pressure therein.

2. ln an automatic fire extinguishing apparatus, the combination of a system of sprinkler pipes provided with automatic sprinkler heads and each in open communication at one end with a water supply main, whereby the pipes are normally kept filled with water under the service pressure, a supplementary supply pipe and connections between the same and the opposite ends of the several sprinkler pipes, means for forcing a heating fluid into the supplementary supply pipe and thence into the sprinkler pipes against the service pressure therein, and flow-choking devices included in said connections and having such capacity as to insure the distribution of the heating fluid among the several sprinkler pipes.

3. 1n an automatic fire extinguishing aparatus, the combination of a system of sprinkler pipes provided with automatic sprinkler heads and each in open communication at one end with a water supply main, whereby the pipes are normally kept filled with water under the service pressure a supplementary supply pipe and connections between the same and the opposite ends of the several sprinkler pipes, and means for forcing a heating fluid into the supplementary supply pipe and thence into the sprinkler pipes against the service pressure therein, each of said connections being provided with a flow-choking device consisting of a wall having therein a perforation of such size that the aggregate capacity of the perforations is sufficiently limited to insure the distribution of the heating fluid among the several sprinkler pipes.

Signed at New York city this 14th day of August, 1906.

LOUlS W. HASKELL. Witnesses:

FRED E. TASKER, C. B. SGHRIEDER. 

